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A St. Johns County police deputy was recently arrested.  According to an article in the St. Augustine Record, the officer was arrested for domestic battery, which is a first degree misdemeanor in Florida.  The deputy allegedly hit a woman in the face at his house.  His St. Johns County bond was set at $500.00 and he has been released.

In Jacksonville and all over Florida, a battery is committed when someone intentionally touches or strikes the victim against his or her will or intentionally causes bodily harm to another person.  The battery becomes “domestic” when the victim is a family or household member.  This includes spouses, ex-spouses, blood relatives, people who have children in common and people who reside together as if a family or who have lived together as a family sometime in the past.  A simple battery, without the domestic part, is a misdemeanor charge, punishable by up to a year in jail.  When the charge becomes domestic, punishments can be more severe.  The court may impose mandatory jail time and the defendant may have to complete a twenty-four class batterers’ intervention program.  This is an intense program that is completed while the defendant is on domestic battery probation in Florida.  If there is a violation of probation, the defendant can be placed back in jail to address the violation.

In addition to simple and domestic battery, there are also higher levels of battery in Florida.  A person commits an Aggravated Battery when they intentionally committed a battery and in the process, caused great bodily harm or permanent disability to the victim or used a deadly weapon.  The elevated battery charge becomes a felony, punishable by prison time.  If the victim of a battery is pregnant, this also converts the misdemeanor battery to a felony.  If a person has been convicted of prior misdemeanor battery charges, the State Attorney’s Office may charge any subsequent battery charge as a felony in Florida.

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A Jacksonville Sheriff’s officer’s actions are being evaluated after detaining a young man for jaywalking and threatening to put him in jail.  According to an article in the Florida Times Union, the man did not obey a walk signal and the officer detained him.  After being stopped, the man began to record the interaction on his cell phone.  At first, the man did not go to the officer’s car as directed because he did not know what crime/infraction he committed.  When he did not listen right away, the officer threatened to arrest the man for resisting without violence, which is a first degree misdemeanor in Jacksonville.  The man eventually complied and was issued a citation for jaywalking and for not having a Florida ID card or a driver’s license on his person.  Once released, the man posted the video interaction with the officer on social media.

Crossing the street on a red hand is a civil infraction and you can be issued a ticket.  The problem is that the jaywalking law can be selectively enforced in Jacksonville.  It gives officers probable cause to stop or detain a citizen for a period of time.  Very often, in certain neighborhoods, people are stopped for jaywalking, blocking the sidewalk, or riding a bicycle without a light.  Once stopped, officers can say they observe a bulge resembling a weapon on the person, justifying a pat down search.  If they find no weapon, but do find drugs, that person is going to be arrested for possession of a controlled substance in Duval County, which is a felony.  But for the civil infraction, it would be illegal for the police to stop and search that person.

When an officer has the legal right to detain you, you cannot just walk away.  Resisting an officer without violence is a first degree misdemeanor in Florida, punishable by up to one year in jail.  In order to be convicted of resisting in Jacksonville, the state attorney’s office must prove that the person resisted, obstructed or opposed the officer who, at the time, was engaged in the execution of legal process or the lawful execution of a legal duty.  For example, if a police officer is dealing with a situation and an onlooker intervenes, they can be arrested for this crime if the officer claims their intervention impeded the investigation.  Even talking can be interpreted as resisting.

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A Jacksonville man has been arrested for Lewd or Lascivious Exhibition on a child after a week-long search.  According to an article on News4Jax.com, last week, an eight year-old child told police a man came up to him in a car and asked it the child had seen the man’s cat.  While showing a picture of the cat to the boy, the man allegedly masturbated his penis after pulling his pants down.  The day after, the boy claims to have seen the suspect’s car and had his mother take a picture.  Police generated a sketch of the suspect from the child’s memory and posted it on the television and social media.  The suspect’s car was also posted.  News4Jax reports that the man’s boyfriend saw the pictures and confronted the suspect.  The suspect went to the police station and was interviewed.  He did not leave.  The man was arrested on this Jacksonville sex charge.

The man faces a lewd or lascivious exhibition charge in Jacksonville.  In order to prove the charge, the state attorney’s office has to show that the man intentionally masturbated, intentionally exposed his genitals in a lewd or lascivious manner or intentionally committed a sexual act that did not involve physical contact with the alleged victim.  Examples of this could be bestiality or simulations of sexual activity.  If the suspect is eighteen years-old or older and the alleged victim is under sixteen, the charge is considered a second degree felony punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.

A $100,003 bond was set in Duval County for this case.  Accused sex suspects, in Jacksonville and all over Florida, are considered especially dangerous by prosecutors and the judiciary.  Even though there is no allegation of touching in this case, the man must post a very high bond to be released to fight his charge.  In cases involving any type of sex accusation, there very often is no physical evidence to corroborate the alleged victim’s statement.  But it is that statement that leads to an arrest and being held in jail, all while the suspect has the presumption of innocence.  The state attorney’s office has to prove the charge beyond all reasonable doubt and until they do, the accused is considered innocent under the law.

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A teacher’s aide with the Duval County Public School system has been arrested on two counts of child abuse.  According to an article on Jacksonville.com, the woman was arrested in Jacksonville on Mother’s Day for the two felony charges.  In the arrest and booking report, police say they were called out to a “domestic dispute” and spoke with the alleged victim’s, the aide’s children.  They told police that the woman became angry because all she got for Mother’s Day was a card.  They claim the woman began to throw things around the room and hit the child with a metal broom multiple times on the arms and legs.  The children also claim the woman punched one in the mouth and pulled her hair.  Police said they observed welt marks on the child, along with a swollen lip and bruises.  The evidence technician was called to the scene and photographed the alleged injuries.

In Florida, there are different levels of child abuse.  Child abuse, in Jacksonville and all over the state, is defined as intentionally inflicting physical or mental injury on a child, committing an intentional act that could reasonably be expected to result in physical or mental injury on a child or actively encouraging another to commit an act that could result in the child being harmed.  While we all know what physical injury is, mental injury is defined by Florida statute.  It is injury to the intellectual or psychological capacity of a child evidenced by substantial impairment in the ability of the child to function normally.  “Basic” child abuse is a third degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison if the State can show that great bodily harm, permanent disability or disfigurement is caused by the abuse.  Aggravated child abuse is more serious in the eyes of Florida law and is a first degree felony.  Aggravated child abuse is when a person commits an aggravated battery on a child, willfully tortures, maliciously punishes or willfully cages a child or knowingly commits child abuse causing great bodily harm, disability or disfigurement.  If convicted of this aggravated form, the maximum a defendant is facing is thirty years in prison.

In each of the aide’s child abuse charges, the judge issued a $15003 Jacksonville bond for each.  If she used a Duval County bondsman, she will be required to pay ten percent of that amount and will have to post collateral to cover the rest.  Monetary bonds are placed on people charged with crimes to encourage them to make future court appearances.  When the case is over, the bond is discharged.

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Last week, an inspector at the Jacksonville Electric Authority was arrested for charges of employee theft and being a public servant that falsified official documents. According to an article in the Florida Times Union, the employee is accused of lying on his time sheet, billing for hours he did not work.  Police say the man spent many hours doing personal things and billing the public utility for that time.

The man was released on his own recognizance by the judge in first appearance court.  In Jacksonville and all over Florida, when you are arrested, you will be brought in front of a judge within twenty-four hours to address your release.  The judge will decide whether or not you are a danger to the community and whether or not you pose a flight risk.  The judge will consider how long you have lived in the county, your criminal history, if any, your family living in the county, your employment, etc.  Most of the time, judges will set a bond, which is an amount of money you will have to pay to be released.  If a bond is set, you can pay the whole amount directly to the jail and will be the whole amount back at the conclusion of your case.  If you cannot afford to post the full amount of Jacksonville bond, you can use a bondsman.  They will take ten percent of the bond amount and post the rest with the jail for you.  In this case, the judge released the JEA employee on his own recognizance, which means he did not have to pay any money to get out of jail.  However, the judge also required that the employee report to Jacksonville Pretrial Services.  This is a jail release program where you have to report upon being released from jail and you will be randomly drug tested while your case is pending.  The employee has to report to Pretrial Services until he completes the MilePost class, which is an anti-theft class.  Once that is completed, the man just has to report to his court dates as directed.

Employee theft in Florida, when the value stolen is $300 or more and less than $5000, is considered a third degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.  In this case, police say the man appropriated ill-received payment (about $4500 worth) to himself for work he did not do for the utility company.  The other Duval County criminal charge is called “official misconduct”  It is against the law in Florida for a public worker, with corrupt intent to obtain a benefit to falsify any official record or official document.  In this case, the man is accused of falsifying his time sheets.

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Controversial Jacksonville preacher, Kenneth Adkins, has been sentenced after being found guilty of several child sex charges in Brunswick, Georgia.  According to an article on News4Jax, Adkins was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison followed by sex offender probation for his natural lifetime.  Adkins was accused of having sexual contact with both a teenage girl and boy.  Per the article, Adkins criminal defense attorney argued that the teenage boy was sixteen at the time of sexual contact.  This is relevant because the age of consent in Georgia is sixteen.

This is in stark contrast to Florida’s age of consent.  In Florida, and many other states, eighteen is the minimum age that a person can consent to sex.  Consent is defined as intelligently, knowingly and voluntarily consenting to the contact and cannot be coerced.  Ages of both the accused and the alleged victim are extremely important to the various sex charges in Jacksonville.  For example, sexual battery, or rape, in Jacksonville is defined as oral, anal or vaginal penetration by any means without consent.  If a person eighteen years of age or older commits a sexual battery on another adult, the crime is considered a second degree felony punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.  If the accused is eighteen or older and the alleged victim is twelve or older and less than eighteen, the sex crime is elevated to a first degree, punishable by up to life.  The same elevations apply to lewd or lascivious crimes in Florida. Lewd molestation is when someone intentionally touches, in a lewd or lascivious way, the breasts, genitals, genital area or buttocks or the clothes over them of a person under sixteen years of age.  If the accused is eighteen or older and the alleged victim is less than twelve years of age, it is considered a life felony.  If the accused is an adult and the alleged victim is twelve or older but less than sixteen, the level is dropped to a second degree felony.

No matter the ages, when someone is convicted of a sex crime in Florida, they are looking at being a sex offender or predator for their entire life.  Restrictions will be placed on where they can live, where they can work and who they can associate with.  In addition to the registration, they are subject to being on sex offender probation, which is the most stringent probation by far in our state.  Sex offender probation in Florida includes intensive psychosexual counseling, periodic polygraph examinations, restrictions of where you can live, restrictions on where you work, restrictions on where you go and restrictions on being around any minors, including natural born children.

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Sixty people have been arrested in Duval County as a result of four month drug sting operation.  According to an article in the Florida Times Union, there are eleven others that have pending arrest warrants in Jacksonville.  Because of citizen complaints in the area, “Lockdown in O-Town” is a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office drug operation that started in October and ended in January of this year.

Most of the criminal charges stemming from this drug bust are sale of drug charges.  The people arrested for selling drugs in this sting are accused of selling cocaine, heroin, controlled substance (commonly pills), marijuana and methamphetamine.  In order to be convicted of sale of any illegal drug in Florida, the state of Florida must prove that the substance is a controlled substance and that the suspect either sold, bought or delivered the drug.  Selling a drug is defined as transferring or delivering something to another person in exchange for money or something of value.  Delivery of a drug is defined as transferring of a controlled substance from one person to another.  Under the “delivery” part of the statute, you can be prosecuted even if you are just the middle man.  Sale of drugs in Florida is a second degree felony punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.

The second most common crime people were arrested for is possession of the drugs mentioned above and possession of paraphernalia.  You can possess anything under Florida law in two ways.  Possession of drugs in Jacksonville means you have personal charge of a thing.  Actual possession is when you have the drug in your hand, on your person, in a container in your hand or so close it is in your ready reach and control.  Constructive possession of drugs is a bit more obscure.  Constructive possession means the drug is in a place over which the suspect has control.  When police search a car and find drugs with multiple people in the car, they will often arrest everyone for possessing the drug, even though under our law, they all cannot possess it.  Police threaten to arrest everyone or in fact arrest everyone to get someone to either take responsibility for the drug or point fingers.  If everyone in the car says nothing, it is very difficult to prove who had sole possession.

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A local man is facing three separate criminal cases related to him allegedly exposing himself to the University of North Florida students.  According to an article on news4jax.com, the man showed his penis to two woman students on the actual campus and two women off campus.  The man is facing one count of misdemeanor stalking and four charges of exposure of sexual organs.  The stalking charge stems from allegations that after exposing himself to one of the students, he followed her in his vehicle all over town.  The woman saw the man’s car tag and it matched the suspect’s car.  This particular stalking charge is a first degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.  In order to prove it, the State Attorney’s Office must prove the man willfully, maliciously and repeatedly followed, harassed or cyberstalked the woman.

The other charges of exposure of sexual organs fit the same pattern, according to reports.  The man allegedly asked the women for directions or some other question while masturbating.  Police showed the women photo spreads of potential suspects and all of the women picked him out of the lineup.  The women also described the man’s car and surveillance video shows the women making contact with the same vehicle.

Exposure of sexual organs, while not a delineated Jacksonville sex charge, is still considered sexual in nature and more serious than other misdemeanors.  This Duval misdemeanor is also a first degree misdemeanor and the law makes it unlawful to expose or exhibit one’s sexual organs in public or on the private property of someone else in a vulgar or indecent manner.  The law also applies to being naked in public.

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First Coast High School has had an dramatic increase in weapon related arrests at their school this month.  According to an article on News4Jax, there have been 5 weapon related arrests at the school in just under a month.  The most recent case was a student who brought a gun to school last week.  The child was arrested on possession of gun charges in Duval County and in addition to the criminal charges, will face school disciplinary actions no matter the disposition of the criminal case.  According to the article, there have been eight separate instances of guns being brought to area schools in 2017.

In the state of Florida, it is illegal to bring a gun or any weapon on school property.  “School” is defined as a preschool, elementary, middle, junior high school secondary school, career school or post secondary school.  This ban also applies to school sanctioned activities.  The child who allegedly brought the gun to school at First Coast was most likely arrested as a juvenile in Jacksonville on a charge of possession of a firearm on school property.  This is a third degree felony in Florida.  If a child is under eighteen, they will be taken to the Juvenile Detention Center on 8th Street.  Once there, the Department of Juvenile Justice will determine if the child is allowed to go home with the parents or guardians or will be detained.  If the child is detained, he or she will have a mandatory detention hearing within twenty-four hours in front of a judge.  The judge will then determine whether or not to keep the child in detention or to release the child on home detention while the juvenile gun case is pending.

If the student was eighteen years of age or older, the student is looking at up to five years in prison and possible becoming a convicted felon.  This is the worst case scenario.  After being arrested, the student will see a judge to determine pretrial release.  Most likely, a bond will be set and there will be a court date about 2 weeks after that first appearance.  Soon after the first appearance date, a prosecutor will be assigned and that prosecutor will make a decision about what to do with the case.  They could file it as charged, reduce the gun charge to a misdemeanor or drop it outright.

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The wrong woman was released from the Clay County Jail last week.  According to an article on Jacksonville.com, Jessica Davis’ family posted her bond for her to be released while her misdemeanor simple battery case is pending.  Instead of being released once the bond was processed, Clay County released another woman, Jessica Arnott.  Arnott was being held in jail on a pending felony aggravated battery charge in Clay County.   The right Jessica was eventually released to her family and the other Jessica was returned to the jail.  Jessica Arnott now faces an additional charge of Escape.  Escape is a second degree felony punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.

When you are arrested in Clay County or anywhere in Florida, you are entitled to be seen by a judge within twenty-four hours.  In some cases, you will get issued a bond prior to going to that first appearance.  These pre-first appearance bonds are reserved for minor crimes, such as petit theft and misdemeanor criminal mischief.  For the most part, the judge in first appearance court will issue a bond, depending on the charge.  There are two considerations judges take into account to set appearance bonds.  The first is whether or not the person is a danger to the community and the second is whether or not the person is a flight risk.  Judges will obviously look at the current allegations against the defendant to determine the level, if any, of danger the arrested person poses to the community at large.  They will also look at the person’s ties to the community and previous arrest record.

Once a bond is set, there are two ways to post it.  You can post the whole amount with the Sheriff’s Office and that amount will be returned when the case is disposed of.  The great majority of people utilize a bondsman.  Most bondsman take 10% of the bond amount and demand collateral to cover the rest.  Bondsmen essentially provide an insurance policy to ensure your appearance in court.  When the bond is posted, the jail runs checks to make sure you don’t have any outstanding warrants or capias’.  If you have nothing holding you, you will be released on the condition your return for your court dates.

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